Monmouth and Rider to Meet in Men's Soccer Final
MAAC Sports
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – No.1 Monmouth University and No.2 Rider University will meet in the 2015 MAAC Men’s Soccer Championship final on Monday, November 9 at noon in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports on ESPN3.
Top seeded Monmouth University were the 2015 MAAC men’s soccer regular season champions and find themselves in the championship final after defeating ninth seeded Manhattan College 2-1 in the quarterfinals after 2015 MAAC Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Year, David Acuna Camacho scored the game winning goal in the 87th minute to break the 1-1 tie with the Jaspers and advance the Hawks to a semifinals showdown with fifth seeded Iona College.
Monmouth University defeated fifth seeded Iona College 2-1 after two first half goals by Zachary Pereira and Dan Pizzimenti. The Gaels scored at the 53:11 mark, but Monmouth’s defense was able to hold Iona scoreless for the remainder of the game led by 2015 MAAC men’s soccer Goalkeeper of the Year, Eric Klenofsky, who made four saves in the game, including three in the second half.
The Hawks will be competing in its third straight championship game. After falling short to Quinnipiac in 2013, the Hawks defeated Fairfield last year to win its first ever MAAC men’s soccer championship. Monmouth University will look to be the first school to win back-to-back MAAC men’s soccer championships since Marist College did so in the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Second seeded Rider University will compete in the 2015 MAAC men’s soccer championship game against Monmouth University after defeating tenth seeded Quinnipiac University 3-0 in the quarterfinals and then defeating Siena College 3-2 in the semifinals. The Broncs have had five different players score a goal during this championship weekend.
All-MAAC First Teamer Sonimi Halliday scored the first goal for the Broncs against the Bobcats. Christian Flath scored the second goal and Rory Duffy would make it 3-0. That would be the final score and it advanced Rider to the semifinals against Siena. Against the Saints, the Broncs jumped out to 3-1 lead after Elliot Otmani’s second goal of the game. The Saints would score late to make it 3-2, but Rider’s defense held on to win. First team member Jose Aguinaga had a three point day (one goal and one assist) in Rider’s semifinal victory.
Rider will look to win its third ever MAAC Men’s Soccer Championship. Rider last played in the championship game in 2004 and the last time the Broncs won the championship was back in 1998 when they won it for the second straight year. They were also MAAC Men’s Soccer Champions in 1997.
The last time Monmouth and Rider played was on October 7 in Lawrenceville, NJ where the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
The last time the top two seeds met in the championship game was 2013 when No.2 Quinnipiac defeated No.1 Monmouth in penalty kicks 4-3.
The winner of this championship contest will earn an automatic bid in the men’s soccer NCAA Tournament. The NCAA men's soccer selection show is on Monday, November 16 at 1 p.m. and is available to watch on NCAA.com
For all information regarding the MAAC men’s soccer championships, visit the championship page on maacsports.com.